A Weekend At the Ruins With the Family

Many Guatemalan families take advantage of the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere surrounding the church, convent and monastery ruins around La Antigua Guatemala to spend some quality time with the family. The best things in life are free or nearly free as Claudia said it, “… simple times, simple pleasures, family, friends, nature… ” feel her heart with nostalgia.

Don’t get me wrong, you need money to live or to try to survive in Guatemala, as in the rest of the world, but in general, it seems that people in Guatemala live happier lives, with much less money and amenities than people in the U.S.A.; that’s my slight appreciation of two societies I have been lucky to live in most of my life.

What’s your opinion or what have you observed in your trips to the land of the eternal Spring?

Personally, I wonder how the women manage to wear stiletto heels on the cobblestone 🙂

Everyday I check your blog and miss Antigua.

Claudia

I totally am in sync w/ your statement Rudy. Thanks for everything, your site has been uplifting, as I just lost my job last week but due to a loophole I will not be getting unemployment, perhaps that is part of my melancholy lately. But back to your question, yes, I was wondering why the quality of life, the pace of time seems to be ‘sweeter’ over there. I think there are many many factors, I feel people still speak to each other, here in NY everyone is so hurried, we avoid eye contact on the street for God’s sake. I feel one component that I loved of living down there was that you knew everyone and everyone knew you, or of you, do you know what I mean? You spoke to your neighbors, you knew their names, where they worked, etc. Heck, you could even have refaccion together, at night you could hang. . have some decent conversation about everything and nothing, buy a loosie- mentolado for me – (though I don’t know if the tiendas still do that), watch kids on the street play w/out worries. (No helmets, no amber alerts, no Wiis, just a plastic ball or if lucky a real soccer ball). Making out w/ a boy in a dark corner, not eating McDonalds or Subway or Starbucks, but having fresh daily made bread, having a home cooked meal that you know took some real labor of love not to mention all the fresh supplies. Feeling my grandma’s wrinkled cheeks on my lips when I would kiss her, listening to rain fall on the rooftop, the smell of wet earth, the smell of refried beans and plantains, not caring about the calories/fat content in such, the cold showers, the clothes on the drying line, itchy ponchos, restless crickets . . I mean I could go on and on. When we were small my father would always take me to Esquilandia (so you know how far I’m going back – for those of you who do not know that used to be sort of like an amusement part back in the 80’s) We could spend an entire Sunday taking a chicken bus to Amatitlan or just pack up some tuna sandwiches & head for the beach or take a stroll down Avenida Reforma, take in an ice cream cone at Helados Gloria, no biggie, but Gosh, we never did suffer from any boredom syndrome; my brother & I played for hours w/ flowers & dirt, playing tienda. So thank you for reminding me of this. . these new ‘found’ memories thanks to you. God Bless.

Raquel

Claudia, I could not agree more about knowing your neighbors and enjoying community. That does exist in Canada still at least, but it is dissappearing faster than ever and it makes me sad…Growing up in small town western canada, our favorite amusements were the river, some rocks, some sticks and a multitude of things you could do with them…but now living in the city, I don’t even think I know the names of my neighbors – never mind the names of their kids, their occupations, the look of their smile, or the taste of their cooking…There is a complete loss of community. A treasure that is rapidly disappearing.

Raquel

I was also saddened to hear about the loss of your job. I hope that another door opens up soon with many new blessings and oppurtunities for you!

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